Snow Day
by boopingsloth
Summary: When Nora and Ren go out for a walk in the snow, they get more fun than they expected... and a lot colder than they expected too!


I won't be posting any drabbles today, but this is my kinda-holiday story... I mean, it's not Christmas, but as one of my theatre kids reminded me, not everyone celebrates it, and I wasn't really getting the Christmas vibes for this one-shot. But hey, it's got snow and cutesy stuff and it's the holiday time, so... yeah! I hope you guys enjoy and I own absolutely nothing!

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 ** _Snow Day_**

"Did you ever see it look so pretty before? I mean, Beacon's not ugly, not at all, but there's something about snow that makes everything look pretty! At least until it gets all slushy, and brown and gross, but then spring comes and it gets all colorful because of all the flowers!" Nora was skipping along the path someone had made, making multiple jumps out to grab at the snow piles cheerfully. "But right now, the snow is all sparkly and new and absolutely beautiful, so it's still all good!"

Ren glanced over at his partner, wondering how on earth she wasn't freezing. True, she wasn't wearing her normal gear, having changed into much more sensible pants and a thicker shirt, but without a jacket or scarf or anything else, he couldn't fathom how she was possibly warm.

"I'm fine!" Nora interpreted the look effortlessly, tossing her head back with a laugh. "But are you warm enough? I know you don't like the snow very much!"

No, but if he hadn't come out, Nora would have found someone else to walk with. "I'm fine, as long as you don't start throwing it at me."

"I won't, I promise!" Nora latched her arms around him, somehow managing not to knock them over with her tackle-hug. "It's not fun if you don't have a whole lot of people for a snowball fight anyway!"

"It hasn't stopped you before," Ren pointed out, straightening them both before they did end up toppling over… and with their luck, they'd land in the snow and end up freezing. "Did you have a plan, or are we just wandering?"

"Uh…" Nora was grinning, but the look was more sheepish now, and Ren knew what that meant. That meant they would just wander around until they either found something interesting, or Nora had a sudden plan pop into her head.

"Which way?" Ren stopped so that Nora wouldn't end up walking them into the snow, and watched as she debated which way to turn. Finally, she ended up pointing her hand to the right, grinning as she grabbed his hand to pull him faster.

"Nora!" Ren didn't move quite as fast as she wanted, but that didn't change anything. He tugged her to a stop, reaching for her other hand. "Your hands are freezing! Why didn't you bring gloves?"

"Um… because it was so pretty and I wanted to get out here and look!" Nora only looked more sheepish than before, letting Ren rub some warmth into her hands. "It's not too bad! I don't even feel it anymore!"

Ren couldn't form a response for a long moment, but finally, he took off his right glove and handed it to Nora. "Here. Put that on."

"Huh? But then what about the other hands? I mean, why should we both have cold hands? That makes…"

Ren linked the fingers on their bare hands together, putting both of them in his pocket where they'd have some protection. "There. Now our hands can be warm."

And his cheeks were only turning pink because of the cold. Nothing more. After all, he'd held hands with Nora plenty of times before, so this was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Ohhhhh! Thanks Ren!" Nora squeezed his hand, moving along at a more leisurely pace now that they were connected. "Now we'll both be warm! And I know how much you like being warm! I mean, the first time I pelted you with a snowball, you practically bawled!"

"We were seven," Ren replied dryly, letting Nora lead them easily as she babbled. When she pointed out some random piece of scenery –now completely transformed by the snow- he made sure to reply quietly, but mostly, Ren was content to just walk and listen.

"And they say they're not together," They both heard the snickers and turned around to see Yang smirking behind them, the rest of Team RWBY not far behind.

"We're not together-together!" Ren and Nora chorused, releasing each other's hands instantly.

"Uh-huh. Sure you're not…"

Before Yang could actually start teasing them, her sister broke in, holding up a pair of skates. "We're going ice skating! Do you guys wanna come? It'll be fun!"

"Ah… well…" Nora glanced over at Ren for help, lining her fingers behind her back.

"Nora can't skate," Ren admitted freely, earning himself a rather insulted look from his partner.

"And it's totally not fair, because Ren can skate really well, but he doesn't like to because it's cold, and he doesn't like the cold!" Nora stuck her tongue out at Ren easily, but he wasn't shaken. It was the truth, so why would it matter?

"So…" Yang looked at Ruby, who suddenly looked like she had mischief on her mind. "If we had a snowball fight…"

"We'd so totally win!" Nora took it as a challenge, pumping a fist in the air easily. "Think of it as revenge for the food fight! My hair was full of soda all day that day!"

"Hey, I was shaking bread out of my hair for weeks!"

"You could cut it and then it wouldn't get so bad!" Nora suggested, something even Ren realized was a bad idea.

"Cut it? Why on…"

"Hey guys!" Jaune walked up, and as much as Ren actually liked the guy, he had to fight the urge to groan. How did a simple walk with Nora end up becoming a big team meet-up? Every time JNPR and RWBY got together, something blew up, or some other kind of chaos broke loose.

Actually, every time Ruby and Nora got together, that same thing happened, but it was worse by tenfold when all eight were together.

"We're gonna have a snowball fight!" Nora cheered as their last two teammates joined the group, linking arms with Pyrrha cheerfully. "JNPR versus RWBY and we're so gonna win this time!"

"Alright… Nora, why do you only have one glove?" Pyrrha glanced at her smaller teammate, obviously wondering what was happening herself.

"Oh! Cause Ren lent it to me, because I didn't have one, and we kept our ungloved hands in his pocket so they'd stay warm!" Nora either didn't notice the looks everyone else shared, or she didn't care, but Ren did.

Did they have to be so obvious about it? They'd both told them, multiple times, that they weren't together-together and they were just friends! Even if they didn't believe it, they didn't have to act so… so…

And so what if they had been together? Ren highly doubted they'd act any different than normal; Nora was already pretty affectionate as it was. Still…

Ren shook his head, realizing that he was being dragged behind a tree as he had thought to himself. "Nora…"

"We couldn't back down!" Nora grinned, recognizing Ren's irritation but ignored it. "Just a quick snowball fight where we annihilate Team RWBY and then we'll go back to the dorm and have hot cocoa or something!"

"…Am I going to have to make it?"

"Do you really want me in the kitchen?"

No. Last time, he'd had to replace the microwave, and figure out how to fix burn marks on the wall. Ren still wasn't sure how she'd blown up the microwave melting butter.

"Really quick, I promise!" Nora grinned before going "Boop!" on his nose and dashing off to build her own snow fort.

Normally, Ren would have wondered why she didn't want him to help, but he knew Nora better than that. She could be absolutely manic, jumping from one idea to the next without a thought to anyone else, but she tried her best to be considerate of Ren's feelings. And getting him to play with snow was far from being one of his favorite things to do.

Ren sighed, keeping his bare hand in his pocket as he followed her. Maybe he liked her too much, because he was always doing things he'd never do otherwise when she was around…

But of course he didn't like her too much, because he wouldn't risk their friendship because without Nora, Ren wasn't much of anything. He wouldn't be much of anything, because Nora was the best part of his life. So it would be ridiculous to risk anything by letting feelings grow past the best friend stage.

"You're going to help?" Nora beamed as Ren helped pile snow into a wall, suddenly moving at lightning speed until a simple snow fort suddenly became a castle. "We are so awesome! And I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"

A snowball landed next to her head, defiling the smooth wall they had made as Nora sang, cutting her off. "Hey! They're attacking my castle! Destroy the invaders!"

Sometimes, Ren wondered why Nora wasn't their leader, as whenever she made demands like that, all of Team JNPR obeyed. Still, Nora wasn't quite so good at _leading_ as she was just obliviously charismatic and they were all competitive –especially against their friends.

It was a good fight, and unlike the food fight, semblances weren't much use when being pelted by snow. Ruby tried hers, and since Nora had jumped into a nearby tree, all it had really done was knock down her snow castle, only making Nora more determined to win.

Or, as Nora put it, "Avenge the stronghold!"

Jaune was pelted quickly, until he looked like a snowman, but he was soon followed by Weiss, whose outfit did not equip her to deal with the cold very well. Slowly, but surely, JNPR had actually won… but just barely, as they were all soaking wet and shivering at the end of it.

"So… cold…" It was eight practically frozen teenagers stumbling into the dorms that night, earning themselves more than a few laughs and strange stares. Ren didn't even acknowledge them, wanting nothing more than a hot shower, hot chocolate, and a warm blanket.

"Cold cold cold… shower shower shower…" They didn't even bother with the private showers and they practically ran to the dorm showers so no one had to wait. Nearly an hour later, after they defrosted and earned a lecture about wasting the water, they were curled up in their dorms, practically buried under blankets.

"Why would today be when the heating broke?" Nora complained, looking like a very fuzzy ball under her blanket. "I think Glynda did it on purpose to punish us!"

"At least the hot water works," Pyrrha noted optimistically, earning herself a disgusted look from Nora.

"Hey Ren, you alright?" Nora finally noticed her partner, who had almost stripped his bed completely to be warm again.

No. He was not alright. It was cold, and he couldn't even bring himself to leave his blanket sanctuary to make something warm to eat.

"Oh! I know! Let's make a pillow fort and all sleep in it tonight!" Nora was jumping up, grabbing pillows from all of their beds eagerly. "We can share our blankets and be totally warm too!"

There was only a slight pause as the other three considered the idea, weighing personal space against the need to be warm.

It was obvious which one won.

"See? Isn't this much nicer?" Nora was still wrapped in her blanket, but since they had all moved around and worked together, they had a full pillow fort, soup and hot chocolate to drink, and they weren't quite as cold anymore.

"Much nicer," Pyrrha agreed, curled up sleepily against Jaune, who suddenly resembled a tomato with how red he was. "This was a good idea."

"Y-yeah! At least now no one will freeze!" Jaune scratched at his head nervously, taking a drink of his soup too fast. "Ouch!"

Nora laughed at their antics before cuddling up against Ren, actually pausing before she forcibly unwrapped him to sit on him and share their blankets. "Nora!"

"What? I'm cold, you're cold, share the blanket and don't be stingy!" Nora grinned up at Ren easily, and he couldn't bring himself to be mad. Not even annoyed… because honestly, it was much warmer this way.

And also, for some reason, he couldn't think of a better way for them to be.

()~~()~~()~~()~~()

Nora woke up in the middle of the night, grinning mischievously. She'd have to reconnect the heat to their room tomorrow before anyone noticed… but for now, things were going beautifully. She could glance over and see that Jaune and Pyrrha were curled up together –and wouldn't that be a great photo opportunity? Plus, the looks on their faces when they realized would be priceless!

But more importantly, she was cuddled up with Ren, who had wrapped his arm around her while he was asleep, and her head was resting comfortably on his chest. She'd been able to be with him, and it had been pretty and even kinda romantic before Team RWBY had come along… and even then, it had been fun!

All in all, it had been a good day. And if they could get even closer… because Nora wasn't content to be best friends anymore. She wanted to be together-together for real…

And everyone knew that when Nora really wanted something, she got it!

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I don't know if people are gonna think it's OOC, but if anyone has met my brother the moment it gets too cold, he all of a sudden becomes this giant bulge of blankets and ill-mannered crankiness. I just see Ren as not being able to handle the cold too well, because let's face it, no one in this show has any body fat (which totally works to keep you warm) and he just seems the least likely to handle cold very well. And Nora, trying to make something cute and romantic happen? I had to.

Anyway, happy holidays everyone! Thank you so much for reading and I will see you guys in the next story!


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